Discontinuation of Intravenous Catecholamine by Oral Ivabradine in a Patient with Decompensated Heart Failure with Low Cardiac Output Syndrome.

Ivabradine has been shown to improve heart failure with sinus tachycardia by reducing the heart rate without affecting left ventricular systolic function or blood pressure. Here we report a case of a catecholaminedependent patient, New York Heart Association (NYHA) class IV, LVEF of 18%, and low cardiac output, who was able to discontinue intravenous catecholamine by oral administration of ivabradine.

Rapidly Moving Vanishing Tumor of the Lung After Open-heart Surgery.

Vanishing tumor of the lung, also known as phantom tumor, is uncommonly observed in congestive heart failure. We report a case of a vanishing tumor that rapidly disappeared and reappeared in just a few minutes due to repositioning in a patient after open-heart surgery.

Interleukin-10 containing normal human serum inhibits granzyme B release but not perforin release from alloreactive and EBV-specific T cell clones.

Interleukin-10 (IL-10), also known as cytokine synthesis inhibitory factor, is capable of inhibiting synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines like IFNgamma, IL-2, IL-3, TNFalpha and GM-CSF made by cells such as macrophages and T helper Type 1 cells. We observed that normal human serum, derived from a healthy individual but containing large amounts of IL-10, inhibited cytotoxic activity and interfered with granzyme B release from alloreactive cytotoxic T cell (CTL) clones in vitro, but did not affect perforin release. The addition of normal human serum containing high levels of anti-IL-10 IgG neutralized the inhibitory effects of IL-10 serum. Moreover, we have identified that cytotoxic activity and granzyme B release from an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific CTL clone was similarly inhibited in the presence of IL-10 serum, while perforin release was unaffected. Anti-IL-10 IgG serum also appeared to neutralize the inhibitory effect of IL-10 serum on an EBV-specific CTL clone.